Aquatic devices (devices that are designed to be deployed in an underwater environment) are well-known in the prior art, and the devices can be used for a variety of reasons. Many aquatic devices often remain in the aquatic environment after their useful life. This is can be due to a variety of reasons. The device can become detached from its mooring to due to weather and/or fouling, or the device can be deployed in the deep ocean, in a manner which would require significant effort to retrieve, or even be impossible to retrieve, due to the depth at which the device is located. Devices which remain in the aquatic environment after its useful life cycle can cause shipping hazards, or can cause other undesired results if allowed to remain in place. Thus, it may be desired to provide a device that maintains watertight integrity during its useful life, but then disintegrates once its useful life expires, or upon a remote command to self-scuttle.
In the case of devices utilizing metallic pressure vessels, it can be desirable to provide a self-scuttling system and method for a pressure vessel that is made of metal and that contains internal electronics. Once the vessel “fails” (loses watertight integrity by design as desired by the user) any internal electronics tray equipment can fail due to exposure to water (again, by design), and can be allowed to disintegrate or break apart after scuttling. The scuttle function as described can be either an intentional scuttle based on anticipated use of the device, or an unintentional scuttle, such as what would occur after the aquatic device is lost due to flooding or other failure, or if the operator loses control of the device but does not want the device to be recovered by third parties. In both intentional and unintentional cases, the device harmlessly decays. This technique could be used to cause any submerged metallic system, such as oceanographic equipment, sensors, fishing equipment, and oil field equipment to break apart in a controlled, designed, predetermined fashion.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,629,091, by Percy George for an invention entitled “Self-Destructing Metal Structures”, uses an electrolyte between two metallic foils, one consisting of aluminum, and one of a more anodic material to cause the more anodic material to corrode, leaving behind the aluminum foil. The primary disadvantage to this approach, however, is that for a deep underwater environment, the thin foils described by George are too weak to resist the forces that pressure vessels must tolerate. Additionally, because a laminate material is used, the ability to form the material into shapes such as spheres and water tight cylinders is very limited and expensive, if not impossible, to accomplish. Additionally, it is necessary for the electrolyte in George to be exposed to water to perform its electrolytic function. As a result, only the inner layer of the laminate is resisting ocean pressure. This has the further disadvantage of beginning the corrosion reaction as soon as the device is exposed to water. A secondary disadvantage is that additional mass is added by containing the electrolyte within the gap between the metallic foils, thereby reducing payload capacity of the device for its intended purpose. In an undersea environment, seawater is readily available for use as an electrolyte.
In view of the above, it is an object of the present invention to provide a device that self-scuttles according to the desires of the user. It is another object of the present invention to provide a self-scuttling device that maintains watertight integrity to thereby provide much space within the interior of the device for a payload for the device, instead of the space being used for electrolyte. Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a self-scuttling device that can maintain watertight integrity in a relatively deep underwater environment until the scuttling function is activated by the user. Still another object of the device is to provide a self-scuttling device that is easy to manufacture in a cost-effective manner.